Four early career researchers from the UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences have been recognized for their outstanding original research with the department's annual Grand Rounds Trainee Research Award. The honor allows senior trainees (e.g., residents, child psychiatry fellows, psychology trainees, postdoctoral fellows) at or near the end of their training and help launch their academic careers to present their scholarship and research at Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Grand Rounds events. Due to extenuating circumstances, one of this year's awardees will be unable to present their findings in person, but a pair of special Grand Rounds sessions on March 4, 2025, and April 1, 2025, will feature formal presentations from three of this year's four selected trainees, followed by a period for questions and discussion with audience members.
Congratulations to this year's award recipients:
- Clémence Cavaillès, PhD (presenting on April 1) - "Sleep and Cognitive Aging: An Epidemiological Approach" (mentored by Kristine Yaffe, MD)
- D. Nyasha Chagwedera, MD, PhD (no presentation) - "Assessing the Feasibility and Acceptability of the Reduction of Ultra-Processed Foods from the Diets of a Subset of Patients with Depression: A Pilot Open Label Crossover Trial" (mentored by Andrew Krystal, MD)
- Xiaqing Jiang, PhD (presenting on April 1) - "Cardiovascular Health, Multimorbidity, and Cognition" (mentored by Kristine Yaffe, MD)
- Alexandra D.W. Sullivan, PhD (presenting on March 4) - "Prenatal Mindfulness Intervention Leads to Lower Child Psychopathology, Mediated by Reductions in Perinatal Maternal Depression" (mentored by Nicki Bush, PhD)
Now in its 12th year, the UCSF Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Grand Rounds Trainee Research Award annually selects trainees conducting notable and advanced research through a competitive application process. In addition to presenting their scholarship and research at Grand Rounds events, the recipients will receive additional mentorship and guidance from faculty, the opportunity to discuss their work with department leadership, and special recognition at graduation.
The 2025 UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Grand Rounds Trainee Research Award recipients: (top row, L to R) Clémence Cavaillès, PhD; D. Nyasha Chagwedera, MD, PhD; (bottom row, L to R) Xiaqing Jiang, PhD; and Alexandra D.W. Sullivan, PhD
About this year's honorees
Clémence Cavaillès, PhD, is a postdoctoral researcher under the mentorship of Kristine Yaffe, MD. She holds a master's degree from the University of Bordeaux and a doctorate in epidemiology from the Institute of Neurosciences of Montpellier (France). Her research focuses on the complex relationship between sleep, circadian rhythms, and cognitive aging. She is particularly interested in identifying at-risk populations and elucidating the mechanisms linking sleep and cognition across diverse cohorts.
D. Nyasha Chagwedera, MD, PhD, is a fourth-year resident physician in the UCSF Adult Psychiatry Residency Training Program and this year's chief resident for research. She completed both her doctoral work in biomedical sciences and immunology and medical school training at UCSF. Her research is centered on cardiometabolic psychiatry, with a particular emphasis on the connection between diet and depression. She has received research funding from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases; and UCSF Clinical and Translational Science Institute, as well as the the National Institute of Mental Health's Outstanding Resident Research Award.
Xiaqing Jiang, PhD, is a postdoctoral scholar under the mentorship of Kristine Yaffe, MD. Before joining the department, she received her doctorate in epidemiologic science at the University of Michigan. Her research focuses on the intersection of chronic disease epidemiology and cognitive aging, leveraging large cohort studies and advanced epidemiological approaches to investigate the relationship between cardiovascular and brain health across the lifecourse. Jiang has received an NIH K99/R00 award and the Alzheimer's Association Research Fellowship to continue her research in characterizing midlife cognitive trajectories and their determinants, particularly among racially and ethnically diverse populations. She has also received the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center REC Scholarship Award and the Young Investigators Award from the Alzheimer's Association Northern California and Northern Nevada Chapter for her postdoctoral work.
Alexandra D. W. Sullivan, Ph.D., is a licensed child psychologist and postdoctoral scholar in the lab of Nicki Bush, PhD. She received her doctorate in clinical and developmental psychology from the University of Vermont and completed her clinical internship at the Charleston Consortium at the Medical University of South Carolina. Her research examines the intergenerational transmission of stress, with a focus on how parental factors and parenting interventions shape child health outcomes. Integrating insights from developmental psychopathology, intervention science, and biobehavioral research, she investigates how supporting parents can mitigate the impact of early life and intergenerational adversity on child health.
About UCSF Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
The UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute are among the nation's foremost resources in the fields of child, adolescent, adult, and geriatric mental health. Together they constitute one of the largest departments in the UCSF School of Medicine and the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, with a focus on providing unparalleled patient care, conducting impactful research, training the next generation of behavioral health leaders, and advancing diversity, health equity, and community across the field.
UCSF Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences conducts its clinical, educational, and research efforts at a variety of locations in Northern California, including the UCSF Nancy Friend Pritzker Psychiatry Building; UCSF Langley Porter Psychiatric Hospital; UCSF Health medical centers and community hospitals across San Francisco; UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals in San Francisco and Oakland; Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center; the San Francisco VA Health Care System; UCSF Fresno; and numerous community-based sites around the San Francisco Bay Area.
About the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences
The UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, established by the extraordinary generosity of Joan and Sanford I. "Sandy" Weill, brings together world-class researchers with top-ranked physicians to solve some of the most complex challenges in the human brain.
The UCSF Weill Institute leverages UCSF’s unrivaled bench-to-bedside excellence in the neurosciences. It unites three UCSF departments—Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Neurology, and Neurological Surgery—that are highly esteemed for both patient care and research, as well as the Neuroscience Graduate Program, a cross-disciplinary alliance of nearly 100 UCSF faculty members from 15 basic-science departments, as well as the UCSF Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases, a multidisciplinary research center focused on finding effective treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and other neurodegenerative disorders.
About UCSF
The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is exclusively focused on the health sciences and is dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care. UCSF Health, which serves as UCSF’s primary academic medical center, includes top-ranked specialty hospitals and other clinical programs, and has affiliations throughout the Bay Area.
